A Certain Age

Do you feel great about your body?  When you look in the mirror, do you think—I’ve still got it? Or do you feel frumpy and lumpy and totally midlife-y? On today’s show, embodiment and menopause coach Gabriella Espinosa helps us beat the midlife body blahs and combat menopause symptoms like low libido, poor sleep, fatigue, and even brain fog. Gabriella’s work lies at the intersection of embodiment,...

Struggling with midlife weight gain? Time for some myth-busting—your metabolism does not slow down in midlife. But your ability to create fat-burning muscle does decrease, which can cause the pounds to pile on. On today’s show, renowned nutritionist and exercise physiologist Heidi Skolnik offers ideas on how diet and protein timing can help manage, even reverse, midlife weight gain. Plus, how musc...

Meet Susan Heinrich, a former news reporter turned stay-at-home mom, who found herself nearing 50 and feeling utterly disconnected from her life. Susan launched Midlife Globetrotter to reacquaint herself with wanderlust and reignite her sense of self. She joins me today to talk about fabulous destinations, how to give solo travel a try, and why travel is a chance for women in midlife to rendezvous...

Meet Sally Mueller, the CEO, and co-founder of Womaness, a product line of menopause solutions carried nationwide at Target and the first menopause brand to hit the shelves at Ulta Beauty. Sally shares how she created the products she needed for her own menopause symptoms, and why retailers are finally putting meno products on shelves. We dive into how to be meno-positive and why it may have taken...

Have you ever subsumed yourself so completely in something external—motherhood, career, a relationship that you lost your sense of self? Meet Tabitha Carvan, author of "This Is Not a Book About Benedict Cumberbatch: The Joy of Loving Something—Anything—Like Your Life Depends On It." Tabitha was a mother of young children when she fell hard, from afar for the actor Benedict Cumberbatch. Slowly she...

 Do you remember Jazzercise, the Jane Fonda Workout, the ThighMaster? How about a time when the sports bra didn’t exist? Journalist Danielle Friedman, author of “Let's Get Physical: How Women Discovered Exercise and Reshaped the World,” shares a fascinating look at the evolution of the women’s exercise movement from “scandalous” into a multibillion-dollar juggernaut and cultural force. We get into...

Hormonal? Meet Julie Kucinski, a cofounder of Wile Women, which offers 100% plant-based supplements and tinctures to support women over 40 with emotional, menopausal, and hormonal wellness. We get into plant power, managing midlife mental health, and why sublimating anger can wreak havoc on well-being, both mental and physical. Bonus, we explore the idea of reframing hormones as a superpower and w...

Rethink menopause with Omisade Burney-Scott, the creator of the Black Girl’s Guide to Surviving Menopause, a multimedia project seeking to curate and share the stories and realities of Black women and nonbinary people navigating menopause. We explore aging, intimacy, body change, pleasure, love, spirituality, and the liminality of menopause. We get into the ongoing fight for bodily autonomy, the i...

Think about your closet for a minute. When you open it, does it spark joy? Or does it cause panic and overwhelm because it’s disorganized and overstuffed (yet you have nothing to wear?). Stylist Dacy Gillespie of The Mindful Closet has ideas for cultivating a closet that makes you happy and is more practical, sustainable, and ethical. We dive into how to be a mindful consumer in a world of excess,...

Sandwiched! Today’s show dives into how to care for aging parents while balancing the needs of career, family, and life. Caregiving Expert Liz O’Donnell, author of “Working Daughter: A Guide to Caring for Your Aging Parents While Making a Living” and founder of Working Daughter, a community for women navigating eldercare, joins me to share real-world practical caregiving tools. We get into the nit...

Meet Annabel Monaghan author of “Nora Goes Off Script” – a witty romance for romantics that The Washington Post is calling a “stand-out” for summer. Annabel shares the inspiration behind her Hallmark meets Hollywood tale and a behind-the-scenes of novel-writing.  We dive into why it took hitting 50 for Annabel to foray into adult fiction (she is a YA author), midlife joy, and fangirl over Sexiest...

Did you know that a regular walking practice can increase your brain size? Mind blown! Walking can also improve your bone health, reduce depression, high blood pressure and stress, and add years to your life. Today's show covers all things walking—where, when, and how often—with Joyce Shulman of 99 Walks and Jetti Fitness. A life-long walking enthusiast, Joyce is on a mission to bring the health a...

Faced with an emptying nest, stay-at-home mom Suzanne Stavert went from daily crying jags to a life of adventure as a travel writer, culinary explorer, travel podcast host, and the creator of the multimedia platform Adventures of Empty Nesters. We cover the sadness (and opportunity) of empty-nesting, why midlife is the right time to launch a small business and post-pandemic travel. If you are itch...

Are you Gen X or Gen X-adjacent? Meet Margit Detweiler, the founder and editor-in-chief of TueNight, a platform and community for Gen X storytelling, midlife resources, zeitgeisty pop culture and 80s nostalgia, and the brains behind a fun, dishy, weekly newsletter written for "grown-ass women." We dive into what's next for Gen X, how to navigate caregiving,  the need to get our midlife financial h...

Are you a skincare junkie? Meet beauty industry pro, Celeste Lee of Caire Beauty, who hit midlife and said enough is enough—too many of the big-brand skincare products on the market are designed to make women feel like crap about their skin, instead of truly addressing the challenges of maturing skin. Celeste co-founded Caire Beauty, after decades in the beauty industry, to address the needs of me...

 When life knocked Wendi Knox down, hundreds of red dragonflies lifted her up. Fired at 50 from a job that was her identity, Wendi had a life-changing, storybook run-in that was so transformative, she just couldn't keep it to herself. Wendi wrote and illustrated the inspirational tale From Muck To Magic to share how renewal (and reinvention) is often rooted in the darkest terrain. We cover ideas f...

Eighteen years ago, lawyer Lisa Smith walked out of a double-life of high-functioning alcohol and cocaine addiction into a life of sobriety and recovery advocacy. Now, she is a sober coach, host of the podcast “Recovery Rocks” and author of the acclaimed memoir “Girl Walks Out of a Bar.” We talk alcohol and addiction, how to be the gatekeeper of your own recovery and steps to take when your head i...

Are you seeing more gray or silver-haired models splashed across catalogs and Instagram? You may have Stephanie O’Dell to thank. Stephanie is changing the face of modeling, one silver-haired, 50-plus model at a time. The long-time fashion stylist founded the industry-first modeling agency, Celebrate the Gray, to represent silver and gray-haired models, ranging in age from 50 and beyond. We dive in...

Could a healthier, more nutritious diet be as simple as upgrading your salt and pepper shakers? Startup founder and food activist Raina Kumra is on a mission to rethink how we spice up our everyday meals with her new company Spicewell—and plant-powered condiments. Raina dishes on the surprising nutritional deficiencies in the average U.S. diet, plant phytonutrients, and the link between her produc...

What if divorce is an opportunity to thrive rather than a failure? Psychologist Dr. Elizabeth Cohen, author of “Light on the Other Side of Divorce: Discovering the New You” shares ideas for flourishing after a divorce. We cover letting go of grief and anger, the power of incremental change, great sex after a divorce, and why midlife divorce has its own special challenges and opportunities. SHOW NO...

Sick of feeling exhausted, over-extended, meh? Author Eve Rodsky wants you to trade your to-do list for “unicorn space” and (re)claim the creative self-expression vital for your emotional and physical well-being. Calling “unicorn space” permission to be interested in your own life, Eve helps us  flourish with ideas from her latest book, “Find Your Unicorn Space: Reclaim Your Creative Life in a Too...

Keep your smile radiant for the long run with ideas for your midlife mouth from dentist Dr. Julie Cho. Because guess what? Aging changes your teeth and gums too! Dr. Cho decodes teeth whitening options (ranging from toothpastes to LED kits, to in-office treatments), shares her favorite toothbrush brands, and helps us amp up our oral care game, with foods to eat (and avoid) to keep your smile smile...

Burned out from years of overwork and exhausted from trying to “fit in” to a corporate work world, Deepa Purushothaman knew she was not alone in needing work to work better for women of color. Now, she is leading the call to reimagine how business gets done – both inside and outside the office, as a DEI advocate and the author of “The First, The Few, the Only: How Women of Color Can Redefine Power...

Need to reinvent or fall back in love (or even in like) with yourself? Meet award-winning TV anchor, author, and champion of midlife women Tamsen Fadal. Thrown a major midlife curveball with a painful, public divorce—Tamsen rekindled her sense of self and has powerful, do-able advice for facing big life changes with confidence. If you are struggling with the end of a relationship or want new tools...

Forget hot flashes. Menopause can wreak havoc on desire, intimacy, and sexual wellness. We dive into libido and factors (beyond dry vagina) that can get in the way of intimacy, with Jackie Giannelli, a women’s sexual health expert and medical advisor to Elektra Health – a modern health care company focused on smashing the menopause taboo. We talk testosterone therapy, managing mindset and mood, an...